Many styles and types of socks have incorporated one or more support tabs sewn or attached to the upper edge thereof at the opening. The tabs are often used on footlet-styled socks used for sports activities. Another type of sock on which tabs are sewn or attached to the upper edge of the opening are hunting socks. The tabs serve various functions, for example, preventing a footlet from sliding downwardly inside a shoe between the wearer's heel and the heel portion of the shoe and allowing the wearer to more easily don the sock. Tabs have also been used on hosiery for other reasons. For example, plurality of tabs may be attached at predetermined intervals around the top of the stocking above a turned welt for attachment of the stocking to a garter.
An example of a footlet-styled sock is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,130,566 to Chesebro in which a footlet has a support tab disposed in juxtaposed relation to the heel and has an inner end connected to the heel adjacent the upper edge thereof and a free outer terminal end. The support tab is a pair of integrally knit juxtaposed gussets each including a plurality of courses connected to corresponding courses of the other gusset and adapted to be disposed on the outside of the sock. The sock blank includes a first narrowed gusset formed of a plurality of partial courses, the first of which is knit integrally with a portion of the last starter course by approximately half of the needles of the cylinder, the remaining half of the needles being deactivated and holding the last formed stitches thereon. The partial courses of the first narrowed gusset are progressively decreased in length by successively deactivating one or more of the endmost needles at the ends of the partial courses with the last formed stitches at opposite ends of the partial courses being held on the deactivated needles. A first widened gusset is then knit integrally with the first narrowed gusset by progressively reactivating the previously deactivated needles in the formation of the first gusset. The partial courses of the first widened gusset are thereby progressively increased in length and have the endmost stitches joined with the endmost stitches of the partial courses of the first narrowed gusset. The gussets cooperate to define a support tab pocket and the joined stitches of the partial courses form suture or gore lines at opposite sides of the support tab pocket. The remainder of the sock is then knit.
A more recent version of a footlet-style sock is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,601,818 to Chesebro, et al. and U.S. Design Pat. No. 225,490 to Sindelar and Chesebro. The sock blank includes a conventional makeup at the upper end and a plurality of courses form a selvage portion. Then the needle cylinder is reciprocated while the major portion of the needles in the cylinder are switched to an inactive position to hold the stitch loops formed during knitting of the last course of the selvage portion. A small number of active needles continue to form stitch loops with swinging movement of the needle cylinder in each direction to form a plurality of successive partial courses of equal width to complete knitting of a tab. The needle cylinder then switches to continuous rotation. As the needles at the opposite sides of the tab again form stitch loops, the fabric at opposite sides is joined and the inner end portion of the knit strip forming the tab are drawn together but are not directly joined. The knitting continues until the sock blank is formed. The foot-receiving opening is then formed by cutting the blank. An overedge seam is formed by stitched around the edge of the foot-receiving opening and connecting the ends of the outwardly protracting loop to the edge of the foot-receiving opening to normally maintain the loop in depending relation above the heel-embracing portion. A sewing machine having cutting blades that cuts the blank immediately prior to the formation of the overedge stitching is used. As the overedge seam and corresponding cuts are made across the juxtapositioned inners ends of the support tab, the folded upper end of the inner layer of the support tab and the upper end of the ankle and the free end of the outer layer of the support tab are joined by the overedge seam.
Despite the advantages of the above described socks, it has been found desirable to provide a knitted sock having a loop knitted to the rear portion of the sock at the opening and to provide an apparatus for knitting such loop.